Yoda

Fictional Character

Born: 1980

Birthplace: The Movies

Best known as:

Shrimpy Jedi master of the Star Wars film series

The wizened Jedi master Yoda is a character in the long-running Star Wars film series created by George Lucas. According to the saga, the venerable Yoda has taught the secrets of The Force to generations of Jedi knights -- including the good Obi-Wan Kenobi and his not-so-good pupil Anakin Skywalker, later known as Darth Vader. Yoda first appeared in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back, where Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) tracked him down on the planet Dagobah. Yoda's gnome-like wrinkles and backward speech patterns -- "Evil you are!" -- helped make him a hit with audiences.

Extra credit:

In the first four films in the series, Yoda was performed and voiced by Muppets veteran Frank Oz. For the fifth and sixth films, Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005), Yoda was voiced by Oz but created by computer animation.